January 2008

The Case for Harmonization

January 31, 2008

Depending on who you ask, document standard harmonization is either impossible or inevitable, anathema or nirvana. Let’s dig a little into this question and see if the two sides are really that far apart. First note that many JTC1 NB’s raised the issue of harmonization in their DIS 29500 ballot comments last September. Some merely [...]

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What every engineer knows

January 25, 2008

Let’s work through a few hypothetical “what if” scenarios to illustrate some common engineering themes related to quality control and the inherent stresses between those who build, those who test, and those who sell. Every engineer is deeply familiar with these patterns, but I believe even the general reader will understand the dynamics better by [...]

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Comedy tonight!

January 25, 2008

Some people think I’m funny. Maybe it is because I like to listen to sea shanties as I blog. Maybe we just live in funny times. In any case, I’d like to highlight three things that have made me laugh this week. And trust me, I have exquisite taste. First up is Tiffany Maleshefski in [...]

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The Standards Trolls

January 21, 2008

It is hard to resolve the pecking order of posters in the Microsoft blogger echo chamber. So let’s just remark that all the usual suspects assisted in this one: Doug Mahugh, Stephen McGibbon, Oliver Bell, Gray Knowlton, etc. Mix together, shake, repeat, turn the crank and presto! Out comes news. Mary Jo Foley at least [...]

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Within the next 24-hours, Microsoft will submit to JTC1 a set of proposals for addressing the 3,522 comments that accompanied OOXML’s failed ballot last September. We’ll no doubt hear a lot of yip-yip-yahooing on their end. Expect a major media campaign. I don’t want to take away the surprise, but I’m hearing that journalists are [...]

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A Brief History of Open

January 3, 2008

Circa 1700 BC, the Babylonian king Hammurabi ordered the laws of his kingdom be engraved on a black stone slab and displayed in the city center for all to see. This was mostly for show, since the number of people who could read Akkadian cuneiform were probably as small then as now. But the symbolism [...]

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The Piemen of Erie

January 2, 2008

An interesting historical anecdote to relate, from our nation’s industrial adolescence, a tale with relevance today when we discuss standards. The year was 1853 and the place was Erie, Pennsylvania, a town at the junction of two incompatible rail gauges. This gauge incompatibility was inefficient and frustrating, but the citizens of Erie loved it, and [...]

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Legacy format FUD

January 2, 2008

From CyberTech Rambler (and Slashdot) comes the news that the Office 2003 Service Pack #3 disables (blocks) access to a number of legacy document formats. Details are in this MS support article. Formats so blocked include legacy Lotus 1-2-3 and Corel Quattro Pro formats. Why? According to the Microsoft support article, “By default, these file [...]

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